Tuesday, November 18, 2014

Start Preparing For The Next Operating System Demise

The popular Information technology research and advisory firm Gartner has advised all major enterprises and other companies to prepare in advance and have a functional plan to upgrade their PC system online well in advance to the 2020 end-of-support deadline of Windows 7. The firm highlighted the plight of most firms, completely unprepared for the Windows XP upgrade and the mismatch between different departments when the upgrades where finally put in place.

The Windows XP OS enjoyed 13 years of updates from Microsoft before it was finally decided to be out-dated. According to statistics, Windows XP OS was working in almost 53 percent of computer terminals even after the end-of-support deadline. Although most systems have successfully upgraded to the newer operating system, Gartner has advised the firms to create a full-fledged advanced plan for upgrading their systems. Meanwhile, do not fall for online scams that claim to provide third-party support for Windows 7.

Gartner said the following in an official statement, “Organizations that have already deployed some Windows 8 PCs, or that decide that Windows 8.1 Update 1 provides an attractive platform, should not shy away from deploying new devices with the OS. However, we expect that by the time an organization is ready for a broad rollout, Windows 8.1 Update 2 will have entered the market. Shifting deployment to Update 2 should be relatively straightforward for most organizations, and in that case, Windows 8.1 Update 1 should be seen as a pilot for that ultimate deployment.”

This statement raised some eyebrows since Microsoft itself has never mentioned about any Update 2 yet. Microsoft said that it has no plans to release a second update system online at the moment. The Gartner Vice-president suggested the following course-of-actions to help ease with the Windows transition.

The first option would be to immediately upgrade to the Windows 8 OS, since the Windows 8 operating system has a deadline of 2023. However, it is highly doubted that any organization would follow this advice. The cost involved in upgrading does not justify the benefits received.

Any computers purchased from now on should have Windows 8 or higher versions. This will help gradually phase out the Windows 7 operating system. This option might see a lot of takers since this will not be a huge burden for most organizations.

The last and the final option advices the firms to wait and download a later version of Windows operating system. This means the organizations should skip the Windows 8 operating system altogether.

Although these are by no means strictly enforced guidelines, Gartners’ advice to maintain an update plan should be followed by all organizations and business ventures. Refrain from falling for any Online Scams and rely only on reputed tech support firms.